Show Some Emotion
by Sgt. Cheerleader
Summary: After Beast Boy sacrifices himself to protect Raven during a dangerous mission, she decided to tell him how she felt about it.


_"_ _Is he going to be okay?"_

Beast Boy lay unconscious on the patient bed in the medical bay of the famed Titans Tower. His normally energetic disposition had disappeared, and despite being there to aid his physical condition, the numerous amount of tubes and monitors connected to his person gave off the impression that the life was being sucked out of him. The human-robot hybrid and the heir to Trigon's evil dynasty stared at their comatose green teammate. The mission was a success, but at the cost of their friend's health. Cyborg wasn't quite sure if he heard her right. Maybe it was because she muttered? Cyborg didn't dare to ask her to repeat it though, because they both knew she would say something else, something less vulnerable. He then realized Raven was still waiting for her answer and decided to finally answer her question. Looking down at the medical information on his arm screen, he replied.

"Vitals are stable. His organs got a little jostled around thanks to the shockwave of the blast, and there's some stubborn internal bleeding, and he'll have a couple of scars, but for the most part, there's nothing that you and I can't fix. I patched him up as much as I could. I'm honestly surprised he didn't break an arm, or something worse. That explosion threw him around like a ragdoll."

"He's always been resilient... in the worst ways." Raven said, back to her usual droll self. Cyborg welcomed it; he didn't like it when Raven didn't act like herself.

Of course, they were both thinking about the elephant in the room; (and not just the potential one Beast Boy could shift into.) the reason he was hospitalized to begin with was him shielding Raven from the explosion. To combat this, he laughed at her statement.

"Hah! You can say that again. Green Bean's always been stubborn, for sure. If you can find any wounds I missed, feel free to fix 'em. I gotta go rest up – helping out our friend here ain't exactly a power-saver." Raven heard the automated door slide open and shut, but her stare was fixed on Beast Boy's frail body. If Cyborg had the capacity to sense emotional auras like Raven did, he would have felt the waves of sympathy and guilt coming off of the empath.

 _ **Two days later...**_

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg were all sitting on the couch watching the giant TV screen when they heard a door open behind them. Thinking it was their more quiet teammate just coming out to the kitchen to make more tea, they didn't look to see who it was. However, they spun around immediately as they heard who's voice it was. There was no mistaking that raspy, surfer-esque tone.

"I feel like a giant turd."

Starfire was the first to react at Beast Boy's recovery. "Friend Beast Boy! I am so glad you have recovered!" She floated up and sailed towards him, but stopped at his extended arm.

"Great to see you too Star, but please, no bone-crushing hugs, that's the last thing I need." Landing on her feet and clasping her hands in excitement, her grin was infectious as Garfield himself couldn't help but smirk at her happiness. "We shall celebrate your new found health with plenty of glorgs and blaach tails! Maybe even some glurk scales?"

Approaching from behind, Robin was quick to dispel that, much to everyone else's relief. With a genuine smile on his face, he put his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "As thoughtful as that is Star, I think that maybe he just wants some tofu?" He said, turning his gaze to his teammate. "Sounds good to me!" the changeling said, giving a cheeky thumbs up. "I shall prepare the oven!" She announced, floating once again, this time over to the appliances. "Good to see you up and running after that nasty hit you took, Beast Boy." Robin said. "Do me a favor and don't ever do that again, Grass Stain." Cyborg announced in a mocking hurt tone. "The only one that's allowed to do you dirty like that, is me. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got ya loud and clear, my man," the shape shifter laughed. "But I couldn't just let Raven get hurt like that."

"Well, despite your heroic sacrifice, we managed to subdue Control Freak and get the volatile materials he got his hands on back under proper lock down, and at my insistence, more supervision. The blast was fortunately away from any possibility of casualty... well, you notwithstanding." Robin explained.

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I've seen better days. But what matters the most is that we got the butthead back behind bars."

"The tofu is cooking!" Starfire announced, returning to her original position next to the leader.

The shapeshifter was about to say something, but the sound of an automated door opening behind him got his attention. He whirled around to see Raven with her hood up. Even though her visage was hidden, he smiled. "Oh hey you. If I had known you were gonna be this high maintenance, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble! Heh heh heh..." His trademark squeaky laugh died down as Raven approached Beast Boy and stopped within an arm's length. Something was wrong – there wasn't a biting comeback to Garfield's admittedly lame joke. "Uhhh... it's good to see you again after being out of order."

Still no reaction. Total quiet. Something was definitely wrong. Even though Raven had a reputation for silence, she would have said something by now.

"Are you okay? Did... did I do a crappy job of protecting you? I mean, I thought I was a pretty good human shie-"

 _ **Smack.**_

Raven had extended her arm and struck him in a flash.

It didn't so much hurt Beast Boy, as much as it shocked him. (It still hurt more than your average angry female slap, being Raven and all.) The sound was loud and sharp; Starfire and Cyborg gasped in surprise, and Robin widened his eyes in disbelief. Garfield knew he and Raven didn't get along that much, but he didn't expect such a callous and violent reaction. Reaching up to his face, he felt the pain ooze from where Raven's palm had struck him. It took him a few moments, but his shock quickly morphed into anger. He took a step forward and made sure what he was about to say was going to register to the sorceress. Unfortunately, she had her hood up so he couldn't read her face, but it didn't really matter.

"Raven, what the HELL?! I mean, I knew you hated me, but I saved your freaking LIFE, and this is the thanks I get? No "Thanks for saving me from total obliteration", no "I'm sorry you got hospitalized", not even a thank you card! Well, see if I ever save your sorry skin aga-"

Even more shocking than the strike, Raven had grabbed Beast Boy's uniform and dragged him close enough to silence him with a kiss. Garfield wasn't sure how to react, but he had to admit, it was a pleasant feeling, and one he was secretly hoping for for a long time. Granted, he wished it was under better circumstances. Before he could even begin to reciprocate, she backed away just as soon as she started. Releasing her hold, she stepped away and turned around. Gar stood there, dumbfounded at the demoness's sudden display of less-than-platonic affection. Right before she reached the threshold of the hallway leading to her room, she turned around and looked Beast Boy right in the eye.

"You're an idiot." She muttered, and turned back around, headed back towards her sanctuary.

The changeling blinked before his legs suddenly turned from jelly back to solid muscle. "Hey Rae!" He shouted, quickly walking after her. "Raven, wait up!" His pace turned into a slight jog as he chased after her, disappearing into the shadows of the hallway.

And then there were three.

"Wow. I don't know about either of y'all, but that might be the biggest surprise I have ever seen." Cyborg announced, his one human eye still wide from the incredibly bizarre turn of events that had transpired. Robin nodded his head in agreement. "Agreed. Although, I did notice they always did have some sort of chemistry with each other," He then squinted in disapproval. "This better not interfere with team performance in any way."

Cyborg looked at his leader. "For some reason, I don't think it will. That is, if they pursue anything further. Hey Star, what do you think of this?" The two men looked at the Tamaranian, who had a blank look on her face. "Uh, Star?" Robin waved a gloved hand in front of the pink haired girl, who looked like she was silently vibrating. "Starfire?" Robin asked one last time. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and practically exploded in happiness. Enveloping her boyfriend in a crushing hug, she floated across the living room, ignoring the boy's grunts of disapproval and discomfort. "IS IT NOT THE MOST WONDERFUL THING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN? THEY FINALLY REALIZED THEIR TRUE DESIRES FOR EACH OTHER'S HEARTS! OH, WHAT A JOYOUS FEELING! I AM SO HAPPY FOR MY FRIENDS!" She finally came to a stop, and released the former sidekick. She must have heard a muffled but firm Put. Me. Down. from the masked boy. Cyborg's chuckles at his leader's misery didn't help, but he couldn't help it, seeing Robin get strong-armed was a rare sight in and of itself, and even more so it being over a romantic encounter.

One thing was for sure; the tower would never really be the same.


End file.
